logoalt Hacker News

anetoday at 12:23 PM1 replyview on HN

Makes sense, though, doesn't it? An elephant's trunk is the fusion of its nose and upper lip, wouldn't that be the location where the mystacial vibrissae (whiskers) be located on any other mammal, making these homologous to e.g. cat's whiskers, which are highly sensitive?


Replies

squeeferstoday at 1:12 PM

sure, elephants exhibit material intelligence (whatever that means), but the individual whiskers? and also i thought cats whiskers could only determine the width rather than the texture of a gap theyre trying to fit through, though maybe cats also "feel" texture through whiskers